At the door she glanced back. Her gaze caught mine. We said nothing, for we knew what we needed to know of each other. Our love was our promise and our security. She left, leaving the door open behind her for Caonabo to follow.
The prince paused, turning to give me a last look. “The blood of my mother lies between us, Catherine Bell Barahal. But because I respect the law, I act as the law requires. Do you? Will you take responsibility for your actions, or will you seek the chance to escape what you have brought about without accepting your part in it?”
7
I had to trust in the plan hatched by Kofi and Keer. With Rory wounded, I had few options.
We spent the rest of the afternoon quietly. When Rory woke up, he seemed far better than he had any right to be, but he developed a sulky whine that Luce was better able to tolerate than I was. She demanded that wash water be brought so I could bathe and change my clothes. I sewed buttonholes on the two winter coats because the tailors hadn’t had time to finish them. To pass the time, she and I discussed the chamber murals. The paintings depicted the history of the First Fleet: the eruption of the salt plague out of the salt mines of the Sahara Desert; the crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by the multitudes fleeing with the Malian fleet; landfall on the southern shore of the island of Kiskeya in the Sea of Antilles.
Luce traced the adventures of her ancestors with a look of dizzy excitement. “I shall have an adventure, too. I shall come with yee to rescue Vai. I’s old enough to leave home. I always wanted to travel, like me father!”
“No, you shall not!” Leaning my forehead against hers, I captured her gaze with mine to bind her to my will. I was implacable; I had to be, because she was a sheltered girl with a sunny good nature from having grown up in a loyal household whose family members cared for each other. “We can’t afford your passage to Europa. You can’t walk into the spirit world anyway.”
Her frown developed a stubborn kick.
“Rory and I can cross into the spirit world because of what we are. People aren’t meant to walk there. Hunters apprentice for years to learn the secret lore passed down among them. You will die, or be changed beyond recognition.”
Luce glared, trembling. “Everyone say I shall be a great help to me mother to run the boardinghouse. But what if that is not what I want? I don’ want to work in them factories neither. And the ships me father sails don’ accept women as sailors, for that is the Roman way. I don’ have the connections nor the apprentice fee a gal need to get a berth on a ship run by a troll consortium.”